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"Every
one of us, as an Ancient Chinese saying reads, goes to sleep with a tiger
lying
next to us. No one knows whether on awaking, it will want to lick us
or tear us into pieces.
This metaphor reminds us of how every one of
us relates with ones' own limitations.
It's just by trying to constantly better
ourselves that we can render our tiger a friend,
cause nobody can avoid one's
worst and most dangerous companion; that is oneself.
The use of stratagems
is an ancient art, not only because it is the bases of secular traditions of wisdom,
but mostly because it belongs to all living beings.
Just by observing animals
and plants, one can witness survival, defense or attack
strategies
in
action. Man has simply elaborated all that which nature has demonstrated since
the beginning of times. The intelligence and creativity used to arrive to the
desired
goals follow such wisdom. This wisdom has always guided- or at least
should guide
human beings. However, this wisdom needs to be further cultivated;
abilities need
to be practiced further, knowledge should be broadened.
In
this book, Giorgio Nardone describes and analysis these abilities, by presenting
the three fundamental traditions that make use of stratagems as essential instruments
in achieving the desired aims; the Greek Sagacity, the Chinese art of War and
the
Rhetoric of persuasion.
Efforts were directed in gathering the basic
criteria with the scope of highlighting the structure, in a way that every single
stratagem is not presented as a mere simple
recipe to copy, but as a principle
on which specific interventions can be constructed;
specific interventions
that can allow us to overcome obstacles and help us tangle-free difficulties,
using oriental elegance and why not, by taking things with a certain pinch of
salt.
ISBN
88-7928-639-0
Ponte
alle Grazie
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